Odyssey
by IntoTheDeep27
Summary: Because fatherhood's a journey, especially for an emotionally constipated man like him.
1. Origins - Chapter One

**Summary:** _Because fatherhood's a journey, especially for an emotionally stunted man like him._

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DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS AND PLOTS. I ONLY OWN MY OC AKI AND ANY OTHER.

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 **Those who trust us educate us.**

 _T.S. Eliot_

* * *

 **Origins**

Hiroki was a retired shinobi who, after seeing two wars, wanting nothing to do with the shinobi lifestyle ever again. He left Konoha with the intent of living in peace, one where his daughter would visit him once a month and he could just relax. He never wanted to return to his old life, no matter _what_.

Yet, it returned to him in the form of a basket and a child.

On a cold December morning, he found that his only daughter died in childbirth without stating who the father was, which left him the only remaining family to take care of that child, his granddaughter. At first he was shocked and grief stricken. Who wouldn't be, knowing that the girl he loved and raised was gone from this life before him? He didn't want the child; he was so tempted to just hand the basket that contained her back to the caregiver that came to give her to him. But the child started to cry when he lifted the basket, almost as if she knew that she was about to be left again. So he looked – he lifted the blanket that covered the basket and looked at his granddaughter. Feeling his chest warm up at the tiny hand that reached for him, Hiroki took the child in under his care and raised her. Yumi, his daughter, named her child Aki, which meant autumn. It fit the child that was born during that season.

As Aki grew, Hiroki had a narrowing suspicion as to who her father was. At first, he was in denial. How could he not when the person who he thought was the father was someone that was known for being a bachelor with absolutely no relationships? He tried to convince himself that the child he cared for was one from the Inuzuka Clan and just had a hair color coincidentally matching with said bachelor, but by the time Aki was five years old, he knew that she was the child of that man. The hair, the facial features, the _teeth_ , they all resembled the Hatake Clan.

Despite never actually seeing the famed Hatake Kakashi without his mask, Hiroki had worked with the man's father at one point and noticed that his cute little granddaughter had an uncanny resemblance to Hatake Sakumo. When he finally admitted to himself that Aki was, in fact, the child of Hatake Kakashi, Hiroki knew he was _screwed_. Once enemy-nins found out that the Jounin from Konoha had a child, they would come after her whether it be shinobi from Hidden Villages or rouge-nins.

So he prepared himself. He retrained his tired and old body while making sure to keep his granddaughter out of public sight. But like he expected, someone had found out about Aki. That fight resulted in Hiroki killing someone for the first time in over two decades. He didn't let it phase him and continued his daily activities, despite the overwhelming number of attacks and kidnapping attempts that occurred.

That was, until today.

Like usual, Hiroki got out of bed and began to prepare breakfast. However, something did not feel right to him, something felt… _off_ – call it a shinobi's intuition. But he continued what he was doing and after finishing preparing breakfast, he woke his granddaughter up and began to eat. But only thirty minutes into eating, Hiroki felt a spike in chakra in the town he lived in.

"Grandpa? What's wrong?" Aki asked him when he suddenly stood up, pushing his chair back.

"We're leaving right now." He grabbed his granddaughter and led her to her room. "Get changed and then grab that emergency bag that we have prepared, okay? I'll be in the room right next to yours." She nodded her head and began to change.

He left her room and went into his own. He walked to his closet and opened it, seeing that accursed Jounin uniform he hated so much with his Konoha headband hanging from one of the pockets. He vowed to never wear it after he retired. He said he was _done_ with fighting.

…But it seemed like he would have to break his vow.

Grabbing and changing into the uniform, Hiroki tied the Konoha headband around his forehead and went into Aki's room. She was dressed and prepared, just like they had practiced.

"You got everything you needed?" She nodded her head and squeezed the kappa doll he had given her for her birthday even tighter.

His head shot up when he sensed the familiar chakra spike of an explosion tag in the living room downstairs. Picking Aki up, he shunshined from her room to the forest outside a second before the house exploded. He brought Aki to her chest to protect her from the heat. When it died down, he turned around and looked at the house. Or, what was his house. He internally cursed as he looked at the damage that he would never be able to repair.

Well, at least he paid off the mortgage on the house…right?

Hiroki ran in the opposite direction of the town but he couldn't help but look back one last time. He saw the town in flames and there were screams that could be heard from where he stood. "Kami…" He breathed out, shocked at what was happening. All of this for a child? This was just too much!

"Grandpa?" Aki tapped his cheek. "The smell of snake is really really strong. I don't like it."

Snake?

Wait…does that mean –

 _No_.

His blood ran cold and he felt like cursing to the gods that didn't exist. That was why there were so many shinobi and killings. It was all because of _him._ Hiroki wouldn't make to Konoha like he wanted if the man he thought was after his granddaughter was near, he'd have to take Aki to the nearest Konoha outpost a few miles away instead.

Hiroki was running when several chakra signatures popped up about a couple of yards behind him. "Fuck. What should I do?" He asked himself, letting out a curse. He was at a disadvantage with a child hanging from his neck if it came down to a fight. Not only that, but the injuries he sustained during the Third Shinobi War were starting to act up, causing him pain in his back every time he ran too fast or jumped a little too hard.

He was so close to the outpost, only about two miles away – so what was he supposed to do?

Hiroki ran as fast as he could and stopped when he knew he had to fight. He set down Aki and hid her as well as he could behind a tree. "Aki, I want you to know that I love you so much, okay? And that we'll go to Konoha like we always talked about, okay?"

"Y-You're leaving?" Tears started to swell up in her eyes – eyes that were so familiar to Yumi's. It broke his heart to see her crying and he wanted nothing more than to just keep her safe from this life. To just take her to a place that she could do whatever she wanted without looking behind her back every damn minute. "I don't w-want you to leave!"

"I know, but I have too, okay?" He felt his voice crack a little. "I love you so much." She threw her arms around him one last time before he pulled away.

"I love you too."

"Now whatever you hear, you cannot leave this place until you see someone with this headband," He pointed to the leaf mark on his own. "and when you do see them, hand them this piece of paper." Despite being five, Aki was smarter than she led onto be. She was more composed than the average child, knowing when the moment to listen to instructions being told.

Patting the silver haired child, he stood up and faced the oncoming enemies but not before alerting the shinobi about a mile away with his chakra.

* * *

"Grandpa?" Aki called out, coming out of her hiding spot. She knew that her grandpa told her to stay where she was but she couldn't smell any more snakes. All she could smell was her grandpa.

She peeked her head around the trees and gasped at what she saw. There were people lying everywhere and in the middle of the field was her grandpa. "G-Grandpa!" She ran towards him and shook his shoulders, trying to get him to wake up.

It worked – to some extent anyways – and he opened his eyes. "A-Aki." His voice was weak and he lifted his hand to her. "I…told you to…stay put."

"But I can't smell anyone."

He smiled and turned toward the Konoha-nin that were approaching them. "Well…you'll be safe…now. In…Konoha."

"Aren't you coming with me?" She gripped her stuffed animal even tighter. "You promised! You said you were coming!"

"I…can't."

"Sir, identify yourself." Aki whirled around and screamed at the man that suddenly appeared behind her.

"008794." Recognition lit up in the shinobi's face before he nodded. "Aki…hand that man…the letter." The girl looked at Hiroki hesitantly before reaching in her pocket and giving the man the letter. He read the message and Aki noted that he kept looking at her in surprise or curiosity. "Aki…listen to…this man." Hiroki smiled before turning his head towards his granddaughter with all his strength. "I love you." But before she could say anything in return, he let out his last breath.

"Grandpa?" She started to shake the old man. "Wake up!"

"Aki-chan, we need to leave." She felt the Konoha-nin touch her shoulder but she pulled away and continued shaking her grandfather.

"Grandpa, wake up! You promised that we'll go to Konoha together!" She was lifted up but she continued reaching for the man that raised her.

" _No! You promised!_ "

* * *

 _ **Hokage Tower**_

 _One Week Later_

* * *

"Tsunade-sama, there is a shinobi from the orphanage that is here to see you." The Hokage sighed before reaching for what she thought was a full bottle, but instead was empty.

Damn it, she needed to go for a sake run after this.

"Let 'em in." Shizune nodded before opening the door, revealing a chunin that held a child with…silver hair. Was it just her or did this girl looked extremely familiar?

"Hokage-sama, we have evidence to believe that this child here is one from our shinobi ranks."

"That gaki there?" She pointed to the girl who currently laid sleeping in the man's chest.

Of course, there was always someone idiot that didn't seem to know when to put on a damn _condom_. The shinobi were told that having kids outside of personal relations were a risk to Village security. It could lead to information being leaked, especially if the kid was to receive a kekkei genkai from the family. It led to people being punished and her having to do even _more_ paperwork.

"Well do you know who the damned father is?" She needed to know so she could start thinking of ways she could punish that idiot, whoever it was.

"Yes. The father is Hatake Kakashi."

She dropped everything she was carrying and stood up at a speed that caused the chair she was sitting in to fall. " _What?!_ " She roared out, causing the poor chunin to wince and wake the girl up. "That is not possible." There was just no way that the lazy, emotionally disturbed, perverted man that she knew would have had a kid. A cute one at it too.

There was just _no_ way.

"You're wrong."

"Well if you would like we can do the DNA tests one more time –"

"Then do it!" She pointed to her assistant. "Take the kid and have her wait here." Shinzune nodded her head and motioned for the child to follow her to one of the seats in the office

This was going to be a _long_ day.

* * *

Kakashi was just minding his own business, reading his Icha Icha book when a messenger bird above him dropped a scroll from Tsunade herself. He opened it with a quick insert of his chakra and sighed as he read it.

A meeting. How fun.

He wondered how late he should be this time. An hour, maybe three? The scroll did say to go now though and Tsunade-sama _did_ underline the word 'now.' Maybe he'd be considerate this time and only be half an hour late.

Yeah, that'll do.

So Kakashi continued walking in the park, reading his Icha Icha for another thirty minutes while picking up trash that he came across. After his half hour finished he finished the chapter he was on, stood up, and walked towards the Hokage Tower while wondering what Tsunade wanted so badly from him. An A-Rank mission, perhaps? But that was unlikely since he just came back from one not even twenty-four hours ago.

When he opened the doors to the building, the chunin manning the desk gave him a sympathetic look before letting him through to the Hokage's office. Confused, Kakashi knocked on the door before opening it, revealing a frazzled Shizune, an angry Hokage, and a child holding onto a studded Kappa.

Huh, this was weird.

"You called for me?"

Tsunade threw a cup at his head but he avoided it as smoothly as he could – which was _very_ smoothly. "When I wrote and I quote 'Come now' that meant _now_."

He smiled. "What can I say, I was throwing away trash."

"Well Hatake, thanks to you I now have a crap ton of more work." She groaned and slammed her hand on the desk. "Hatake, meet your kid."

"…Excuse me?"

Tsunade ignored him and pointed to the girl who now stood next to Shinzune. "Gaki, this is your sorry excuse of a dad."

The girl with the hair _so familiar to his_ looked at the blonde before looking at him. "That's my papa?"

"Yup."

"Uh, Tsunade-sama, there's got to be some mistake here –" Kakashi was currently in denial. He didn't have a kid – he _couldn't._

"There's none. We checked like five times. Kami, I need another drink."

"Hatake-san, we need you to sign the paperwork here that states that you'll become Aki-chan's guardian, which then puts her under your name and protection."

Kakashi remained standing there, the reality of his current situation finally hitting him.

"You should be glad that this happened Hatake, the Council was starting to bug me about you having a child because you're the last of the Hatake Clan. Now I don't have to hound you about making one." Tsunade said after she drank half of the sake in the cup she held. "For a while there, we thought you were actually just not interested in women –"

This seemed to bring Kakashi out of whatever stupor he was in. "You thought I was gay?"

The Hokage shrugged her shoulders. "Could you blame me?"

He just shook his head and sighed before looking at the girl that stood in front of him. "Your name was Aki right?" She nodded her head. "Do you think you can do me a favor and sit outside on the couches next to the door?" The blue-eyed child blinked at him before nodding her head again. She left the room and the moment she did, Kakashi looked at Tsunade pleadingly. "I can't take care of a child, especially a four year old one! A boy? Maybe. A girl? No! I don't know a single thing about taking care of a _girl_."

"She's five for your information."

"So _what_. The point is being that I failed to look after a group of twelve year old genins! Look at what happened! How the hell am I supposed to take care of her?" He couldn't do this!

Tsunade sighed before leaning back on her chair. "It's better than being sent to the orphanage Kakashi, believe me. Imagine what kind of people would take advantage of that if she were to go there. She might be a child but she's _yours_. She's a descendent of the Hatake Clan, a Clan that once was one of the strongest in the Shinobi Lands. They'll kidnap her and you'll never see her again." Kakashi knew what she was hinting at. People like Danzo would want her for Root, while enemies that he'd made would want her for leverage against him.

"…Fine. Give me the paperwork and show me where to sign."

Five minutes later Kakashi walked out of the office, his punishment being a fine and having to do several missions he wouldn't usually do. He turned to the seats outside of Tsunade's office and saw the little girl talking to her toy, his new responsibilities hit him in the face with full force. "Aki-chan?"

The little girl turned to him and smiled before standing up. "You're my Papa, right? That's what the lady with the big chest said."

"Uh…yeah." He kneeled down to the girl. "We need to go shopping for some things okay?"

"Okay!" Kakashi was relieved. This girl wasn't going to be as big of a problem like he thought. He's seen some children her age throwing a fit and being hysterical – he never understood how people dealt with that.

He stood up but before he could start walking, the girl grabbed his hand. Kakashi let out a weird sound before turning to Aki. "What's wrong?"

"I gotta pee."

* * *

Kakashi was holding a pair of children's clothing as if it was an explosion tag, unsure of what to do. "Um…which one do you want?" He held the pink pajamas and the purple one towards her.

Girls liked these kinds of colors right?

"I don't like it." She held up a pair of green pajamas instead. "I want this…uh please?"

Kakashi took it from her and nodded before placing it in the basket that was already full of things he thought children her age needed. "I think you're going to need some towels and undergarments."

"Can I get the ones with doggies on it?" She tried to reach for the bag that had the dog patterned undergarments but failed because of her height. Instead, Kakashi picked it up for her.

"I think we have enough here." He walked towards the cashier, Aki following after him like an obedient dog – he knew full well that comparing the girl to a dog was not very…smart of him, but that was his method of dealing with his current situation. "I'd like to buy these." The store clerk looked at the basket with glee and little by little, he felt the money in his wallet disappear.

Kakashi and Aki walked out of the store once the clerk finished bagging the clothing, which took only about five minutes. "We'll go get dinner once I drop everything here off at my house." She nodded her head and they started to walk towards the shinobi apartment he lived in.

Halfway in their walk, Aki suddenly stopped walking and froze. "Hey, what's wrong?" The terrified look on her face scared him. What was going on, what was wrong? Kakashi saw tears in her eyes and his own eyes widened too.

Oh Kami, what was he _doing_ _wrong?_

"Aki –" The girl barreled into his legs and if he didn't see it coming he would have fallen. He kneeled down and looked at the child worryingly. "What happened?"

She looked at him, tears still falling down her face. "I smell snake."

"Snake?" The first thought that went through his head was a pet store. They _did_ just past one. "You mean the pet store?"

She shook her head. "No, like the bad people that smell like snake." Kakashi internally groaned and he looked up at the sky. Shit, she's encountered Orochimaru or his weird minions/experiments. But it's alright, the Snake Sannin wouldn't be stupid and return to the village that he just attacked about two years ago. No, she was safe.

For now.

"It's fine, okay?" He extended his hand towards the girl – no, his daughter. She looked at it before holding onto him and he stood up. "If something were to happen, the shinobi here will protect you." He might have had to lean a little for her to continue holding onto it but he didn't mind. Honestly, he wanted to let go of her hand but with the way he felt her grab onto him a second ago, he couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the girl. He let himself catch the scents of the emotions she was feeling and knew that he couldn't push her away right now. She was sad, nervous, and terrified.

No, he would let her hold onto his hand.

* * *

 **A/N:** _I should probably be working on finishing_ _ **LIHE**_ _and_ _ **IWNF**_ _buttttttttt I really wanted to write this story. I've been reading a bunch of fanfics of Kakashi being a dad and holy hell there are some good ones._

 _Just in case you guys were wondering why Aki was taking her grandfather's death so easy, it'll be explained in the next chapter!_

 _This story is heavily influenced by_ _ **Surprise Arrival**_ _by_ _ **What is Insanity**_ _. It's an amazing story that is obviously a Kakashi Dadfic story. It's freaking amazing and so go check it out!_

 _The chapters for this story won't be published on a schedule_ _ **but**_ _depending on how well this story gets (follows/favs/reviews) the chapter will come out faster._

 _SO REVIEW!_ _REVIEW_ _ **REVIEW!**_

 _I get so motivated to write when I get reviews, that's why. Lol sorry._

 _SO UNTIL NEXT TIME, DON"T FORGET TO FOLLOW AND FAVORITE THIS STORY SO YOU CAN FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS TO AKI AND KAKASHI!_


	2. Interrogation - Chapter Two

**Summary:** _Because fatherhood's a journey, especially for an emotionally stunted man like him._

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DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS AND PLOTS. I ONLY OWN MY OC AKI AND ANY OTHER OC.

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 **We were all at once terribly alone; and alone we just see it through.**

 _All Quiet on the Western Front,_ Erich Maria Remarque

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 **Interrogation**

"So um…Aki." Kakashi started to wring his hands together. What the hell was he doing? He fought S-Ranked missing-nin, he fought in a war―for Kami's sake, he was in _ANBU_. Yet, realizing that he had to take care of a little girl managed to terrify him beyond comprehension.

"Yeah?" Said girl looked up at him. She was currently sitting on the couch in front of him, looking slightly annoyed at the fact that he was interrupting her TV show.

"I'm just going to be straightforward." Deep breaths. "I don't know how to take care of a four-year-old child."

"I'm five."

"That's not the point." Kakashi groaned and brushed his hand through his hair. "I failed to take care of my previous team and they were all twelve. What do you think that says about me when it comes to the caregiver department?" He asked as he kneeled down.

Aki shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno." She kept trying to look around him to watch whatever was on the TV.

"Oi." Kakashi placed his hands on her shoulders to sit her still. "You need to work with me here."

She pouted before crossing her arms. "Fine."

"Okay." He stood, the air in the room becoming even more awkward as the seconds passed. He wasn't sure what to actually ask her, now that he thought about it.

"Let's play twenty questions then!"

"Twenty questions?"

Aki nodded her head. "You ask me twenty questions and I do too. We can make the rules so we're comf...um...comfortable with the questions."

It was a simple enough game and it would let him take cues from the kid, at least. "Sure. Let's play." He sat down next to her. "What are the rules?"

"Um…" She sat there for a few seconds, a look of deep concentration on her face.

"Let's just make up the rules as we go then." He suggested.

The relief on her face quickly disappeared when she bobbed her head up and down, her arms squeezing her beloved stuffed animal. "Do I call you papa or Kakashi?"

"I guess whichever one makes you more comfortable?" He suggested. He didn't blame her for this, she had been tugging on his arm or leg to get his attention for the past few days, something that would have become inconvenient as time went on.

This game was far more helpful than anything else.

"…Okay. I'm going to call you papa then." She smiled at him, her legs swinging in front of her.

"Alright." He stood up before scratching his head. "Um," Maybe he should start off with something simple? "what's your favorite color?"

"Blue and Kappa's green."

He blatantly stared at the doll before turning back to her. "You named your stuffed animal the animal itself?"

She just shrugged her shoulders. "So? It works." Aki giggled before turning her entire body towards Kakashi. "Can I see what's under your mask?"

"No." He immediately shot her down.

"What?!" Her back straightened before pointing to it. "Why not?!"

"'Cause I said so."

"That's not fair!"

"Fine, you want to see what's under the mask?" Kakashi internally smirked. Oh, he was going to have fun with this.

"Yes!" Aki buzzed with excitement.

He hooked a finger under his mask, quickly casting a small genjutsu under it. "Are you ready?" She quickly nodded her head and leaned forward, clutching her Kappa even tighter. "Under this mask…" The look on her face would be _priceless_. He quickly pulled down the blue mask, revealing another one in its place. "Is another mask!" The excitement in her face transformed into surprise, only to change again into a blank look, almost a look of…disappointment.

"…That's not fair." That was the only thing that she said.

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders. "Life's not fair."

"Wait…" Aki stood up on the couch and leaned towards his face. "How did you even do that?"

"I used―" He suddenly froze when the little girl placed her small hand on his face, touching where the genjutsu mask was.

"I can't feel it." She moved her hand over to his nose and then to his mouth. She furrowed her eyebrows before staring at where she could feel his mouth but not see it. "Do you have teeth like me?" She bared her teeth at him and pointed to her abnormally sharp canines with her unoccupied hand. "Shee?" She asked, her question slightly muffled by the finger in her mouth.

He gently grabbed her hand and pulled it away from his mouth. "Yes, I do. But let's move on to the next question, ne?" Although she was slightly disappointed, Kakashi didn't really care because at the moment he was still reeling from the fact that she just shoved her hand onto his face.

He would never get used to people touching him, no matter how old he was. It was just _so uncomfortable_.

"Will I ever see your face?" She asked, sitting back down.

"Maybe one day." He answered. Kakashi could count the number of people who have seen his face on one hand and they were all dead.

Dogs didn't count though.

Surprisingly enough, Aki quickly gave up on trying to see his face. Her only reaction was a sigh before moving on. "How old are you?" Her eyes narrowed as she stared at his hair. "Are you old? Because your hair is grey."

"Well that's just rude, isn't it? I'm not old." He leaned back into the couch. "I'm twenty-nine."

She gave him a blank look before scoffing. "That's old."

He clutched his chest in feigned hurt. "No, it's not."

"It is."

"But what about you?" He pointed to her hair that was barely being kept in place by a hairband. "Your hair is the same color as mine."

"But I know my age." She held up five fingers. "I'm five. For all I know, you're fifty!"

"Well, I'm not. I'm twenty-nine." He tapped a finger on his chin. "Also, my hair is silver, not grey."

"…I still think that's old." Aki muttered under her breath.

Kakashi decided to let her have the last word and smiled before thinking of a question. "What's your favorite food?"

"Oh!" A look of glee suddenly appeared, the previous topic forgotten. "I like takoyaki." But before he could respond to her answer, she shot her hand up. "Next question! My grandpa was a shinobi, is that what you are? You wear the same uni…uniform like he did and you have a bag full of weapons on your leg." She shrugged her shoulders. "I kinda peeked into it when it was on the ground."

Deciding to ignore the fact that she was snooping around in his things―he'd have to be more careful with where he put the bag of weapons―and asked the question that now was on his mind. "You know what a shinobi is?"

Aki nodded her head. "Grandpa was always fighting people and told me his job. They kill people for their village to protect them." She suddenly glared at Kakashi before she continued. "He said he fought people again to protect me. He also said it was because of you." There was a gleam in her eyes that made him slightly worry because he was starting to think that maybe she was smarter than what she led him on to be. He also felt the seriousness of her question and was slightly shocked at the sudden transition from asking innocent questions to ones that seem a little too serious for someone her age.

"Well…I am a shinobi."

"An important one?"

"I'm uh…yes, I guess I am."

"Why?"

"W-Why?" He asked the question to himself too. Yes, he was strong and yes, he was important to Konoha because of his strength. But _why?_ There were plenty of people like him too, so why focus so much on him on times?

A perfect example would be teaching the Yondaime's son, the last Uchiha, and a child that now was being taught by the Hokage herself.

And Kakashi realized he didn't have a clear answer to Aki's question as to _why_ he was labeled as strong or important. "I'm sorry but I don't know how to answer your question for that."

"Fine." The girl tilted her head at him. "Who exactly _are_ you then?"

"Well, I was the last of my clan. I'm a Jounin and I'm pretty strong." _I've killed hundreds of people and deceived more. I killed my teammates and practically killed my father._ "I like to read?"

"Oh me too! Grandpa read to me all the time at home." Aki opened her mouth to ask another question but in its place came out a yawn.

Kakashi stood up and motioned for her. "Why don't we get you to bed Aki? It's pretty late." He was glad to have a reason for the questions to end. It was more like an interrogation than twenty questions once he thought about it.

"Okay."

After going through the nightly rituals of brushing her teeth, changing into pajamas, and pulling out the futon, Aki was lying in bed, a look of pure innocence on her face as she slept.

Kakashi was, after all, confused by the little girl that suddenly appeared in his life. The girl acted like a child her age at one minute and then someone at least twice her age the next. The entire time she was questioning him he was observing her, looking at the small like gestures she was unconsciously making. The slight tilt of her nose, the way she leaned a little towards herself. She was smelling his emotions, trying to gauge what he was feeling at those moments. He could tell that she was slightly distrusting in him too―not that he could blame her. If he were thrust into the same situation as she was, he would be too.

Aki was disturbingly similar to him, whether he believed it or not.

Sighing, he ran his hands through his hair before laying down on his bed, tired. A week. It had only been a week since she barged into his life and he was mentally _exhausted_. Turning his head towards the sleeping child, a thought ran through his mind.

This little girl was a mystery and he was starting to realize that she'd remain one too unless they both opened themselves up a little more.

* * *

 _The Next Day_

* * *

"Can we go to a park?"

"A park?" He looked at the clock and saw that it was still noon. He didn't see why not, it was a weekend and the park was bound to have a lot of children there. Perhaps it was a good thing if she went to one, interacting with children her own age. It was something he never did―that might have been a reason for why he had so much trouble with doing exactly that as a child. "Sure."

"Yes!" She jumped off the couch and ran straight to the door. "Let's go!"

About fifteen minutes later, the duo was standing in front of a playground, the sounds of children screaming surrounding them.

"Well you asked to come here, now go." He nudged her forward and watched as she slowly walked towards the playground, doubt apparent on her face. Walking towards one of the empty benches, he sat down at pulled out a book―for once, it wasn't Icha Icha. As much as he wanted to read his favorite novel, he knew that reading that in a playground full of children was not a very bright idea. And not to mention, he didn't want to see the glares from the mothers around him.

Kakashi tried to focus on the words of the book, _he really did_. But he couldn't help but look at what Aki was doing. He brought his book slightly down and when he looked at his daughter, a sigh left his mouth.

She was hanging upside down on one of the jungle gyms, alone, boredom and slight loneliness on her face. She continued to hang there for a few more seconds before she lost her balance and fell face first.

" _Shit_." Kakashi knew that look on her face, he saw it in the academy children he failed.

It was a look before someone cried.

He quickly put his book away and rushed to where Aki was. "H-Hey, there's no need to cry―"

Big fat tears fell from her eyes before a wail left her mouth.

"W-Woah! It's okay!" He quickly pulled her up and pulled down her bunched up shirt before brushing off the dirt and twigs on her body. He checked for any injuries and couldn't any, yet she wouldn't stop crying.

"It h-hurts!" She started to rub her hands in her eyes.

"Where?" Kakashi quickly asked. He kept looking at her hands and knees but couldn't see any cut. Aki pulled up her shirt, revealing the cut he didn't see earlier. She started to rub her eyes again as the tears kept going. "It's okay!" He said over and over again while keeping her shirt up as he assessed the cut. It wasn't deep and with a bandage she would be fine. Pulling one out of a pocket on his vest, he ripped off the package it was in and placed it over the cut. "S-See? You're fine!" He tried to reassure her as he patted her bandage and with it, her stomach.

Too caught up in trying to stop his daughter's crying, Kakashi didn't sense the chakra signature that was coming behind him.

"Kakashi-Sensei…" The familiar voice that he heard made him pale and he could only feel scared for his life. "What… _exactly_ are you doing?"

The silver-haired man slowly turned around and flinched at the look his former student was giving him. "S-Sakura, it's not what it looks like―"

"Oh _really_?" The pink-haired teen cracked her knuckles before tilting her head. He could sense her chakra rushing to her hands and at that moment, the only word going through his mind was _shit_. He quickly stood up and moved Aki behind him to try to protect her from the chakra-enhanced punch he was preparing himself for.

However, before Sakura could actually punch her perverted Sensei, the child she was trying to protect pulled on the hem of Kakashi's shirt.

"Papa, who is this?"

Her mouth fell open and all the chakra that was being focused on her fist was forgotten. Sure the kid was almost a carbon copy of her Sensei―not that she knew what Kakashi looked like but that wasn't the point. With a trembling finger, she pointed to the child peeking their head out behind Kakashi. "P-Papa?"

Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck before moving Aki from behind him. "Sakura, I want you to meet my daughter, Aki."

"D-Daughter?" Sakura's eyes kept going back and forth between the duo. "No way, there's _no way_ …He's _Kakashi-sensei…_ He can't have a child!" She started to pull on her short, pink hair. " _He's asexual!_ "

"Oi."

"Is she okay?" Aki asked her father as they both observed the teen.

"Honestly?" He shook his head, continuing to look at his former student. "I don't know."

Aki sniffed, her nose slightly stuffed from the crying she had done. "…I have to pee." She said, looking up at him.

Kakashi sighed. This was going to be a _long_ day.

* * *

 **A/N:** _YOOOOOO! Here's chapter two you guys! This story has gotten_ _ **far**_ _more attention than what I thought it would get and oh lord am I happy. I was kinda stuck on the beginning of this chapter because of a pretty bad writer's block but I think it's gone now!_

 _I don't really have much to say now besides THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS, FOLLOWS, AND FAVORITES_.

 _So, here's the serious part. I am having soooo much trouble with writing Aki's character simply because I don't know what a five-year-old child acts like. I am an only child who rarely sees her younger cousins, so this is a major struggle with me right now. Aki is smarter than her age group and it'll play a big think in the story but for now, I hope this chapter was good enough at showing that!_

 _Don't forget to follow/fav and leave a review!_

 _Until next time!~_


	3. Heart to Heart - Chapter Three

**Summary:** _Because fatherhood's a journey, especially for an emotionally stunted man like him._

* * *

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS AND PLOTS. I ONLY OWN MY OC AKI AND ANY OTHER.

* * *

 **The right words always seemed to come too late.**

Murakami Haruki, _Colorless Tsukuru and His Years of Pilgrimage_

* * *

 **Heart to Heart**

* * *

"You have a daughter."

"Yes Sakura, I do."

"You, out of _all_ people, managed to have a kid."

"Yes."

Sakura threw her hands up in the air with exasperation. "I give up." Kakashi responded to this by raising his only visible eyebrow. "Could you blame me Sensei?" She asked at seeing the raised brow.

"Is it really _that_ hard to believe that I have a child?"

"Yes." She deadpanned. "At least fifty percent of Konoha―civilians included―think that you're asexual, like I did up until a couple of hours ago. But obviously," She pointed to Aki. "you're not."

"What about the other half?" He tried to ask, hoping, _just hoping_ , that it wasn't what he thought it was. But he already knew the answer to his own question and winced right before Sakura answered.

"That you're gay." His head fell forward in defeat. Of course people would think that. What little self-esteem he had at that moment disappeared like dust in wind.

"Papa, what's gay?" A voice asked. However, it didn't come from behind them or in front of them, no, the two shinobi had to raise their heads up to look at the person asking the question. Seeing Aki standing upside down, Kakashi and Sakura both shot up from their seat on the bench, shocked.

"S-Sensei, you're seeing this too…right?" Sakura asked after a moment of silence passed between them, Aki's question forgotten.

Kakashi only felt dread at what he was seeing. No, this couldn't be happening. Sure, _he_ was a freak of nature at the age of five but not Aki, not her, not when there were people who would use her against every moral rule in the world. Not only that but because of his family name―now her last name―more people would want to use her because ninja were like that, they would use every possible strategy against their enemies.

His daughter was currently standing, upside down with _chakra_ on a tree branch, which meant she had moderate control over her chakra. "Aki, get down. _Now_." He commanded, making sure to emphasize the last word. The little girl, shocked at the growl that Kakashi had not meant to let out, lost the concentration of chakra to her feet and fell right into his arms. He quickly put her down and looked around, sensing for foreign chakra.

And surely enough, he sensed―and smelled―one lone shinobi running away.

"I'm sorry, it's just that Grandpa always lets me do that when we go into the forest―" Aki tried to apologize but Kakashi just held his hand up. No, he wasn't angry at her. Hell, he was slightly amazed by the fact she could do what she did. He was just worried and mad at himself for not realizing that she could have done this.

"I'm not mad Aki." _At least not at her_. "Just don't do that here in public, okay?" The little girl nodded her head before sitting down on the bench, shame and slight anger apparent on her face.

"You know what Sensei? I have to go, Tsunade-shishou is waiting for me." Sakura quickly made an excuse up and said goodbye, leaving as fast as she could, leaving the father and daughter alone.

"Aki, let's go back home." Looking at the time, it was almost four. "We'll get bentos along the way." Kakashi extended his hand to his daughter but she didn't even glance at it before hoping off the bench and walking towards the exit. She was clearly embarrassed but he could sense some…anger coming from her.

…Shit.

He quickly caught up to her but she moved slightly away, leaving a pretty large gap between them. It didn't take them long to reach the obento shop they had been going to for the past week. "What do you want Aki?" Kakashi asked as he looked at what they had. The obento's ranged from rice balls to full meals, such as grilled chicken with rice and a small salad on the side.

"I don't care." She grumbled back. She continued standing behind him with her head turned, not meeting his eye.

He only sighed at seeing her act like this. "They have takoyaki." He tried offering. He remembered from the question game yesterday that takoyaki was her favorite food. Maybe this would cheer her up? But it didn't work and the girl only shrugged her shoulders, inciting another sigh from the man. Great, now he had a mad toddler on his hands.

He quickly picked out two random obentos and paid for them, motioning for Aki to follow him. He tried to ignore the stares that he was receiving from both civilans and fellow shinobi alike, but it was starting to get on his nerves. He didn't understand why they were they staring so much.

But Kakashi and Aki remained silent, the tension and awkwardness in the air around them growing with every minute, only to worsen when they got home.

Kakashi could only watch as Aki shoveled the food into her mouth fifteen minutes later as they sat down and ate dinner. "Calm down before you choke on a lettuce or something." Although she was mad, she listened to him and slowed herself down. They finished the rest of their meal in silence.

"I want to go home." She muttered after she finished eating. Her hands were balled into fists and her shoulders were hutched over. He was prepared for the girl to say this. It was a surprise she didn't ask sooner.

"It's not that simple―"

"I hate it here!" Aki shouted, sounding close to tears. "I hate it I hate it I hate it! It's too big, it smells weird, the people aren't nice and I just _hate it!_ " At this point, tears were streaming down her face as she stood up and stomped her feet on the ground. Grandpa always told her not to act like this but she couldn't help herself. "Why won't grandpa come and pick me up? Why isn't he here like he promised?"

Kakashi quickly moved to where the girl was standing and kneeled in front of her. "Your grandfather isn't coming back Aki."

"Yes he is! He promised!"

He sighed. Remembering the report that Tsunade gave to him about Aki, he knew that the man that raised her, Hashimoto Hiroki, died from his injuries trying to reach Konoha. He didn't know at the time if she understood what had happened to him but judging by her actions right now, she didn't. He didn't want to be the bearer of bad news―because putting it plainly, he sucked at it―but it seemed that he would have to be. "Aki, your grandfather is dead." He explained, hoping that he made the right decision.

Her body froze at what he said. "You're wrong." Her voice held conviction that he didn't know a child could have. "He _is_ coming back and when he does, he'll take me away from here so I won't have to live with you anymore!" With this she stormed off into down the hall to the other room―their bedroom.

"Aki―" The door slammed shut and he heard a muffled, _leave me alone_.

Kakashi groaned and slammed his head onto the table, his hands splayed out in front of him. Telling Aki that her grandfather was dead _probably_ wasn't the greatest idea after all. What the hell was wrong with him? Why did he think that this would turn out well for them both?

He was right, he didn't know how to raise a child.

Lifting his head, Kakashi saw the empty plastic plate that had previously held Aki's dinner. He pulled himself up and cleaned up the table, leaving his own dinner for later. After he finished up he walked down the hall to his bedroom door and knocked on it. Even if he couldn't sleep in the room, he wanted to grab some of his things. "Aki can I come in―"

"No." A voice immediately countered. He could tell she was crying but from what, he didn't know. Whether it was the stress of living in a new place with a stranger or being told that her grandfather was dead, Kakashi knew that he couldn't just leave the girl alone.

He walked back to the living room but not before biting his finger. "Kuchiyose no jutsu." Once the smoke from the summoning cleared, three ninken sat on the wooden floor.

"Yo."

"Pakkun, I have a favor."

"Why do you have a crying child in your bedroom?" The little pug suddenly asked once he heard muffled crying from the bedroom.

"That's what I need help on." Kakashi explained everything that had happened for the past week.

Pakkun, Akino, and Bisuke all shook their head. "You've messed up big time Kakashi." Pakkun said, voicing all the ninkens thoughts. "We all know you weren't the average child growing up, but come _on._ Telling a little girl her grandpa's dead, just like that?" He shook his head. "You should know better."

"I realize that it wasn't the best idea." Kakashi groaned into his hands and pointed to the door. "Just…help me."

"You owe us all." Pakkun said before walking down the hall to the bedroom.

"Wait, give her this." The jounin picked up Aki's stuffed animal, her Kappa, and gave it to Akino to hold. "She'll feel more relaxed, I think." She did carry the damn thing everywhere.

* * *

 _Aki_

* * *

She hated it here. She missed her old room, she missed the forests that became her home, she missed the smells of the cute little animals that came to visit her, she even missed all of her other stuffed animals and books.

But most of all, she missed her grandpa.

Thinking of the man caused even more tears to fall. She held onto her pillow, regretting to not bring Kappa in with her. It was worse in this room because the smell of her father was everywhere, even on the stupid pillow!

Suddenly, she heard scratching at the door. "Leave me alone." She muttered, knowing that the man would hear her.

"I'm not Kakashi."

Slowly getting up, Aki walked over to the door and opened it a little. She looked through the crack and saw three dogs standing in front of it. "Dogs?" The pug nudged his nose in the space and she let them in, quickly running back to her spot in the corner. She looked at the dog wearing sunglasses and saw… _Kappa!_ Akino, noticing the girl suddenly staring deeply at the large stuffed animal in his mouth, trotted over to her with his tail wagging. He sat down in front of her and dropped the toy into her hands.

The reaction was immediate. Aki stopped crying and was hugging her beloved stuffed animal for dear life in a matter of seconds.

"Why are you so sad?" The pug asked, sitting next to the dog that gave Aki her Kappa.

"…I just want to go home." She sniffled. "I don't like it here."

"And why's that?"

She looked at Akino and extended her hand, hoping to pet him. The dog rubbed against it and there was a small smile on her face. "I know he doesn't like me." She muttered, still petting the sunglass wearing dog.

"Well I'm not going to lie, you were certainly a shock to Kakashi's boring, single life." Pakkun said, now climbing onto the girl's crossed legs. "But I wouldn't say that he doesn't like you."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Bisuke interjected. He placed his head onto her lap, right next to where Pakkun was curled up in, and licked her hand. "It takes a while for Kakashi to actually show his true feelings. He's not your average man, you know."

"I know." Aki said. "He's a shinobi."

"Not just that but certain things happened and well…he hasn't had an easy life." The cute little pug looked up at her and tried to explain. "It's not our place to tell you what happened, you're going to have to ask him that yourself, but all I'm going to say is that he's trying in his own weird way."

"It's hard enough being a shinobi," Bisuke could tell that the girl was starting to calm down. "but having a family makes it harder."

"…I still don't like it here, in Konoha." It was stinky and not clean, not like the village she lived near.

"Did something happen at the park today? Kakashi told us what happened but―" Aki shook her head and recalled what happened earlier.

"I tried playing on the jungle gym with everyone but a boy walked up to me and pushed me. He said that I wasn't allowed there," She hugged Kappa. "that I was a freak because of who papa was and what he did. So I just left and started playing by myself."

Pakkun internally sighed. He never really understood humans. They were all so emotional and confusing and mean.

"Not everyone in Konoha is like that." He would ignore the 'freak' part for now.

"It doesn't matter! Konoha is too big and I just…miss home."

"I know you do." Bisuke licked her cheek. "But why are you mad at Kakashi?"

"Papa? Well that's because he lied to me. He said he wasn't angry at what I did but I could tell he was."

"How?"

"By his scent. It was all bitter."

At this Pakkun laughed. Of course she thought he was lying, there was no difference in scent when it came to self-anger and anger towards someone. "He wasn't lying to you Aki-chan. He was angry with himself."

"…Himself?" She tilted her head, confused. "Why?"

The put laid his head down on his paws again. "You're going to have to ask him."

And with that, the conversation ended. Aki was worn out by the events today and was about ready to fall asleep right where she was sitting. Turning her Kappa into a makeshift pillow, she laid her head down on it as the dogs around her adjusted to the new position.

As much as the talking dogs confused her, she was too tired to actually ask them about it. She yawned and thought, _I'll ask next time_.

Once Aki fell asleep, Kakashi walked into the bedroom about an hour later to see her asleep on the floor with his three ninken. He woke up the dogs and once they explained everything and said goodnight, he dismissed them before turning back to the girl.

Surprisingly enough, she was still asleep. The crying from earlier must have really tired her out. As gently as he could, Kakashi picked her up and carried her to his bed. After covering her with the blanket he turned to leave, only to be stopped by a hand grabbing his pants.

"Is he really gone?" Aki asked him, her eyes still dazed with sleep but also sharp with sadness.

Kakashi opened his mouth to say no but the look on her face made him realize that lying to her would only hurt her more. He just nodded his head before kneeling in front of her. "I know what it's like to lose someone you love." Especially a father figure. Although he didn't outright answer her question, the silver haired girl understood and responded with silent tears. Kakashi placed his hand on her cheek and gave her a sad, knowing smile. "I'm sorry."

Aki continued to cry.

* * *

 _The Next Morning_

* * *

"Who are they?" Aki pointed to a picture that was placed on Kakashi's bookshelf in the living room. She was standing on her toes to look at it.

"Them?" Kakashi walked up behind her and picked up the picture frame. "They were my teammates." He felt his heart beating painfully in his chest at seeing the pictures of everyone again. He tried to avoid looking at it as best as he could. The best thing would have been to just put away the picture because it brought up unwanted memories but it felt like a disgrace to Obito, to Rin, to Sensei to just…put it away in a drawer like junk.

"Where are they now?"

"They all died back when I was younger." Putting the picture back up, he led Aki away from the shelf. But before he could actually do that, she suddenly wrapped her arms around his legs in a hug.

"I miss my grandpa too." The moment Kakashi told her who they were, Aki knew should never have asked. She could smell the overwhelming scent of grief and regret rolling off of him. "I'm sorry about yesterday. I kinda overreacted." She pulled away and looked up at her papa.

"No, it's fine. You had every right to be mad." Kakashi just gave her a little smile before pushing her into the kitchen. "Now, we need to make something for breakfast."

* * *

 **A/N:** _fyi, I just pulled this chapter out of my ass._

 _Man was this hard. I had the image perfect in my mind yet when I tried to put it into words it was like "NOPE." I was like "WTF BRAIN, WHY YOU NO WORK."_

 _But you see, I wanted to upload one more chapter before spring break ends for me, which means school starts Monday (and guess who hasn't read past the first five chapters of an entire book, which comes with a shit ton of study guides, and has all of this due on Monday). I have a serious problem with procrastination, I swear. I try to fix it. I SWEAR I DO. But it just never works._

 _Anyways, I honestly don't know how I feel about this chapter? Like, I don't think it's too bad but…idk. Oh, also, please forgive any grammatical errors and spelling errors._

 _LEAVE ME A REVIEW ON WHAT YOUR OPINION IS BECASUSE I SERIOUSLY NEED IT. ALSO, the more you review the faster the next chapter will come out *wink wink* *nudge nudge*_

 _SO, don't forget to follow/fav. if you haven't already! ALSO DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_

 _Until next time!~_


	4. The Hospital - Chapter Four

**Summary:** _Because fatherhood's a journey, especially for an emotionally stunted man like him._

* * *

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS AND PLOTS. I ONLY OWN MY OC AKI AND ANY OTHER.

* * *

 **Your worst sin is that you have destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing.**

Fyodor Dostoevsky, _Crime and Punishment_

* * *

 **The Hospital**

Kakashi and Aki were walking home together when the little girl felt a large wet drop fall onto her face. Looking up, the clouds were dark grey and little by little she saw rain starting to fall.

"Papa, it's raining."

"I see that." Kakashi said, stating the obvious. He turned his head to the sky before looking back at his daughter. "I hope you know that we're going to get wet since I forgot to bring an umbrella."

"…Gross." He just shrugged in reply since there was nothing he could do about it now.

As the rain started to fall harder, the duo started to walk faster. By the time they made it back to the apartment, Kakashi and Aki were soaked to the bone. Kakashi didn't mind the rain―hell, he trained in rain.

So before, when it would rain and he would find himself without an umbrella, he would have taken a quick shower once he got home and then he would have gotten changed. It was simple, easy, and effective. Now?

Not so much.

Looking down at Aki, he noticed her shivering before anything else. _Crap_. What did that parenting book he read yesterday say? Make sure to dry off your child if they get wet? _Shit, he couldn't remember what it said._

Placing the items they bought onto the counter, he quickly rushed Aki to the bathroom. "You're going to take a bath right now, okay? It'll warm you up." This was exactly what he did in this situation and it'll work on a kid too, hands down. Or so he hoped, anyways.

The five-year-old nodded her head. "O-Okay."

Kakashi turned around and opened the bottom of his sink. After digging through the crap that had accumulated in the space for what felt like forever―but was only a few seconds―he finally found the box of bath salts that he had been looking for. He had gotten it a few weeks ago from Kurenai after they came back from a mission together.

"Um…" Aki tugged at his shirt and he turned around to face her. "I've n-never taken a s-shower alone."

 _Of course she never did._ Kakashi internally groaned. "Did your grandpa always help you take one?" She nodded her head. "And now you need me to help?" She answered with a nod again.

His face went blank as his inner thoughts took over his mind. It was okay, he could do it. Sure, this was taking a _huge_ leap out of his comfort zone but if he had too he'd be able to do it. It couldn't be that hard.

…Right?

Even if he didn't want too though he'd have to simply because of the fact that Aki was currently shivering in her clothes in front of his. She was cold, a child, and bound to get sick if she stayed in those clothes.

But _still_ , he never really helped shower another human being before.

"P-Papa?" The small voice brought him out of his thoughts. He would have to think about this later.

"You need to take off your clothes, okay? You'll get colder and the next thing you know, you'll be sick." Aki nodded her head and started to take off her wet garments. As she did this, Kakashi opened the sliding door that led into his very tiny bath room. In the corner like in every traditional Japanese style house, there was a small metal bathtub while next to it was where he would wash his body and hair before going into the preheated water.

Rolling his sleeves up, Kakashi pulled off the plastic covering that was on top of the metal tub and placed it somewhere to the side. He then proceeded to put the proper amount of… _lavender_ scented bath salts that would warm the user _right_ up―or so it said on the container anyways―into the water and mixed it with his arm.

"I-I'm ready."

"Alright come on." Kakashi turned around and motioned for Aki to walk into the shower room. He quickly turned on the shower and sprayed her down before placing her into the warm, nice smelling water. "Are you warm now?" He asked after a few minutes had passed. He noticed the color returning back into her cheeks and that her shivering had stopped.

"Yup."

"Good." Kakashi sat down on the small stool and ran his hand over his face. He wasn't paying attention and didn't notice when Aki brought her hands together in the water to make a water gun. She squirted water onto Kakashi and giggled when she saw the look of surprise on his face.

At least she wasn't shivering.

* * *

"Grandpa had to buy lots of brushes because of me."

"…You broke a lot of brushes, didn't you?"

Aki turned red and hid her face into Kappa. "Maybe."

Kakashi let out a single laugh. "Don't worry, I know through experience." He tried to run his hand through his daughter's hair but failed. His fingers caught onto a large knot and that incited a wince from her. "It's easier if it's shorter." He suggested. "Why not cut it?"

"Then I look like a boy."

"Nothing wrong with that."

Aki glared at Kakashi. "No. I like my long hair." She growled out.

He raised his hands in surrender. "Okay." She turned around after a second passed and let Kakashi work with her mop of a hair.

Sure, his hair was just…a freak of nature. It poofed up in rain―and when it was wet―and no matter what he did with it, it never changed. It was thick, each hair strand was thin, and he had a crap ton of it on his head. Up until now, he thought he had it bad.

He snorted.

Nope, Aki had it _so much worse_ than him. Her hair was longer, even thicker and at the moment, it was tangled. This was possibly the worse combination to have, especially on a five-year-old, energetic child's head. And not to mention, the brush he was using was one that looked about ready to break.

And so Kakashi tried, he _really_ did. He tried to brush through her knots as gently as he could so the brush wouldn't break and so Aki wouldn't cry because of the pain. Yet, he managed to do _both_ in a span of ten seconds. First, it was the brush breaking, resulting in a piece of it still stuck in one of her knots. Then it was him trying to take out the brush, which then caused a large chunk of her hair to get ripped off. Then Aki crying only made it worse.

The end result of today was a screaming child who was crying from pain and a grown man who was about ready to cry because he didn't know how to do jack shit when it came down to children.

…It was not a good night for the two of them.

* * *

 _Later that night_

* * *

It didn't take much to wake a typical shinobi up but when that was paired with someone who was a light sleeper, it resulted in a man that woke up at almost every little sound. This was why Kakashi woke up to coughing. It wasn't like an average cough either, it sounded much worse.

"Aki?"

"Papa…" Aki turned to him and immediately, he knew something was wrong. "I don't feel good―"

Kakashi knew the telltale signs of someone who was about to vomit. Seeing Aki acting the way she was made him grab her and shunshin her to the toilet, only a second before she did puke.

He was thankful he made it in time.

He held Aki's hair up as she puked. When it was over, she looked slightly better but not by much. Holding his hand against her forehead, he could also tell that she had a fever. A pretty high one at that too, judging by what he felt.

"How are you feeling right now?" Kakashi asked despite thinking it was a useless question to ask when he could pretty much tell with the way she looked.

"…Not good." Aki looked up at him, her eyes not really meeting with his own.

Kakashi looked around in the cupboard behind the mirror and found an unused thermometer. "Let's see how high your fever is." He turned it on and handed it to her. She took it but just stared at it, unsure of how to use it.

"I don't…"

He gently took it out of her hands and then placed it between her armpits. As they waited for the little machine to go _beep_ , Aki rested her face against Kakashi's leg.

It didn't take long, he thought probably only about a minute or so but during this time, Aki was coughing horribly, almost to the point where he thought she was going to puke again. Not only this but she was breathing a little harder than she was a minute ago which was slightly worrying him. He took the thermometer and looked at her temperature.

It was 39.1°C.

" _Fuck_." Now he was really worried. Kakashi quickly looked at the time and saw that it was still two in the morning. Grabbing a small blanket to wrap the little girl with, he quickly picked her up and rushed out of the house. At first, he didn't know where to go. He thought of Sakura but then remembered that she still lived with her parents, so she was off the list. The only place he could think of was the hospital. The emergency room would obviously be open. Although he hated the hospital with its white walls and smell of blood, he'd have to suck it up and take Aki there.

The usual trip there while running would have usually taken Kakashi about ten minutes.

He managed to make it in five.

Kakashi slammed open the doors to the room, shocking the nurse manning the station. "H-Hatake-san?"

"She suddenly started puking and currently has a fever of 39.1."

"O-Okay." The nurse quickly took Aki from his arms and nodded her head. "We'll have a doctor check on her immediately. Please wait here while we get a room and a bed ready."

Kakashi looked around and sat on one of the empty chairs that were scattered around the emergency room. He rubbed his face with his hands before sighing into them, feeling tired. It didn't help that he was here, a place that was associated with death more than life.

Did he do something wrong today? Was he wrong to put Aki in a bath to warm her up? Or maybe it was the way they were eating. After all, they had been living on prepacked obentos for the past two weeks.

Maybe it really was all his fault.

"Hatake-san?" Looking up, Kakashi saw the nurse from earlier. "The room is ready." He followed the nurse to the room and waited for her to walk away before entering the room. The moment he walked into the room, he almost bolted when he saw who was standing over his daughter's figure, their hands green with iryo-ninjutsu.

"Sit your sorry ass down Hatake." As quietly as he could, he sat down in the seat listening to the command.

"I'm sorry Tsunade-sama―"

"For what?" The blonde turned around and looked at him. "She has the flu, something you can't really prevent." Tsunade narrowed her eyes at him. "I hope you're not blaming yourself Kakashi. This really wasn't your fault."

"I don't―"

" _Sure_."

"Um…so Aki has the flu?" Kakashi asked, diverting the question back to Aki. He personally had never needed to deal with the flu because of the annual flu shots all shinobi were required to get.

The Hokage nodded her head. "It's been going around lately, especially with children. I'm guessing you took her to a park?" He nodded his head. "That's probably where she got it."

"So…she's fine?"

Tsunade nodded her head. "For the most part. We'll keep her here for the rest of the night before discharging her, just in case. I managed to bring down her fever but I'm going to prescribe some antiviral medicine."

Kakashi felt relief rush throughout his body. He was glad that Aki was going to be okay but now, a new thought came up. "Tsunade-sama, why are you here?"

"Oh." Tsunade smirked. "I'm still an iryo-nin so I do like to see how my hospital is doing. I just happened to walk by the nurse who was carrying Aki." She wrote something down onto a paper. "Well I have to go but I'll make sure to give this to a doctor. _Don't_ forget to pick up her medicine, okay?"

"Hai."

"Good." With that she left the room, leaving Kakashi alone with a sleeping Aki. He slumped in his seat with a mix of relief and guilt. Despite Tsunade telling that that it wasn't his fault, he couldn't help but feel like it slightly was. And not only this, Kakashi was scared at how he reacted today.

He asked himself why he acted like this, why his heart was beating so painfully with worry. He recalled the way he talked to the nurse when he first arrived at the hospital and that almost made him wince because of how he sounded. He sounded so scared for her.

Only two weeks and Aki had managed to burrow herself into his heart.

Only two weeks and Aki had managed to make him act slightly irrationally.

Only two weeks and Aki had caused him to _care_ about her and it terrified him.

* * *

 **A/N:** _QUICK CULTURAL LESSON. SO in Japan, it is normal for a father to wash/take a bath with their daughters' while they're young. And since Naruto is based on Japanese culture in a way, I figured that there was nothing wrong with this._

 _I swear to god, if people tell me that I'm wrong about I will literally shove my Japanese heritage in YOUR FACE AND DOWN YOUR THROAT because I'm pretty sure I know what I'm talking about since I'm, you know,_ _ **Japanese**_ _._

 _So, how do you guys like this chapter? I'm pretty okay with it, not quite loving it but not quite hating it either. It's like in the middle for me._

 _SO OMG I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH THE AMOUNT OF POSITIVE REVIEWSS I'M GETTING FOR THIS STORY JUST MAKES ME WANT TO CRYYYYYY. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH I WISH I COULD GIVE YOU ALL A COOKIE (because who doesn't like cookies, am I right? But if you do I'll give you something else xD)_

 _Anyways, leave a follow/fav. if you liked this chapter. Also, please don't forget to leave a REVIEWWSSSSS because I'm a review whore like that. (I'm not going to lie about it soo…)_

 _Until next time!~_


	5. Take Care - Chapter Five

**Summary:** _Because fatherhood's a journey, especially for an emotionally stunted man like him._

* * *

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS AND PLOTS. I ONLY OWN MY OC AKI AND ANY OTHER.

 **To be human is a powerful, profound thing that deserves a lot of patience.**

Immanuel Kant

* * *

 **Take Care**

Kakashi quickly woke up to the hand nudging his head. "Papa, wake up." His eyes shot open and he instinctively grabbed the hand that was touching him before looking at who it belonged too.

" _Aki?_ " He saw surprised blue eyes looking at him, her silver hair even more poofed up than usual. Quickly letting go, he hoped that he didn't grab her wrist too tightly. Aki, however, was disturbingly not fazed by it and only rubbed her neck.

"Good morning," Her voice came out very different from the high pitched one he had somewhat gotten used to hearing. "My throat hurts." She complained, her voice hoarse.

He stood up and patted her on her head, almost like he would with a dog. "Well, you got sick," Looking at the clock that hung on the wall, he was glad to see that it was around eight in the morning. "And I also think we can head back home now." He said to her, also happy to have a proper excuse to leave this godforsaken place.

Aki, still dressed in her pajamas, stared blankly at him before turning her head down. "I don't have shoes though," She wiggled her tiny toes to emphasize her shoeless―and sockless―feet.

Crap, he should have at least brought an extra pair of clothes for her. Then again, his primary concern for her at that time was more about her wellbeing rather than something as simple as extra clothing for the next day. "Alright, I'll just carry you home." Besides, he noticed that she looked about ready to fall over onto the pillow again.

Aki, though, seemed happy enough with this decision and raised her arms without a complaint, waiting to be picked up. He carefully did exactly that and left the hospital room, but not before grabbing an unopened child-sized mask that he conveniently found in a box. "Wear this," He handed it to Aki.

"Why?" She asked as she eyed the white mask in her hand.

"So you won't get me sick."

"…Oh," She took it and shrugged before doing what he asked. "Okay." Staring at his daughter, Kakashi wasn't shocked to see that he was looking a carbon copy of himself, now that half of her face was hidden like his―and it seemed like he wasn't the only one who thought the same too. As he walked them down them down the stairs, he heard a giggle come from his daughter.

"What's so funny?" He asked, his one visible eyebrow raised.

She pointed to his face. "I look like you," Despite being tired even more so than usual, Aki still managed to let out another loud giggle before resting her head between Kakashi's neck and shoulder.

If only she saw him when he was five, then she'd probably be giggling _more_.

After picking up Aki's medicine, the duo walked home―well, more like _he_ walked them home―and yet again they were the victim to stares from both civilians and shinobi alike.

"Papa, why is everyone staring?" The little girl glared at those who blatantly stared at them from her position in his arms.

"Well that's a great question and it is one I don't have an answer too," He hoped that it wasn't making Aki _too_ uncomfortable because it was sure as hell making him uncomfortable.

She scoffed before turning back to face her father. "You don't have the answer to many things."

"That's not true," Kakashi mocked hurt.

"Yes, it is," Came the monotonous reply.

"I guess if that's what you want to think then be my guest," Kakashi just shrugged and continued walking, only to realize something as he passed food stands by food stands a few minutes later. "Aki, I just realized something."

She slowly blinked, slightly disoriented from dazing off. "What?" She lifted her head and looked at him, confused.

He felt bad for doing this, especially when she was sick and tired, but she wouldn't get better without proper food. He didn't want to leave her alone at the house in the state she was in right now either. "I need to get some groceries."

"Okay," She looked at her toes and back at Kakashi. "I can walk without shoes."

"You sure?"

Aki rubbed at her eyes. "Uh huh. Did it all the time." She said in between her yawns.

"It's only for a few minutes, okay?" He gently placed her on the ground and then handed her the medicine bag they received from the hospital. What harm could walking for a few minutes without shoes be? He's seen plenty of children running around barefoot, and she said she did it all the time. "Stay _right_ behind me."

Aki followed her papa for a boring few minutes as he chose which vegetables to get, asking her every once in a while which she thought was the better one. However, as her papa looked at tomatoes, she happened to pass by a box of dog biscuits which distracted her. She looked at the boxes and thought that by giving these to her papa's summons, they would be happy and maybe they would let her hold them.

She loved dogs.

Instead of turning left like her father, Aki turned right and walked to the shelves that held all the necessities for a pet—canines included. She looked around, trying to find a step stool of some sort so she could reach a box—because quite frankly, she was very tiny, even for her own age—only to fail to find one. As much as she also wanted to use her chakra to climb the shelf, she was scared of getting her papa mad at her again and she was too tired to even try anyways.

But before she could think of another way, she unexpectedly sneezed. She was unprepared for this which meant she could not pinch her nose. The end result of this was her blowing snot all over the inside of her mask. "Eww…," She quickly took it off and balled it in her hands, carefully making sure she didn't touch any of it. She then proceeded to cough.

Being sick sucked, that's for sure.

She looked back up, mournfully. Now what was she going to do? The boxes were all the way up there and she was all the way down…here.

"Ojou-chan, are you okay?"

Turning around while sniffling, she saw a tall man with an unlit cigarette in his mouth looking down at her. With her stuffed nose, Aki barely caught the scent of anything but she managed to catch a whiff of smoke coming from him before it disappeared. She narrowed her eyes, sizing the man up. He seemed nice _enough_ and he had the same headband as her papa, which meant he was a shinobi like him too. It wouldn't hurt to ask him to get her the box of treats. Aki pointed to the shelf behind her. "I can't reach the box of treats…um…can you get them for me?" Had she been more observant, she would have noticed the look of surprise on man's face from seeing her face and canines.

The man could only think of one person that looked anywhere close to the little girl that stood in front of him, both in hair and facial features. And those canines…could she really be…? He shook his head and just smiled at her. He'd think about it later.

Besides, there was just no way. This was purely coincidental.

"You want the dog biscuits up there?" He pointed to what he thought she wanted.

"Yes—" She paused, made a weird face, and sneezed. "Yes please." She asked as she rubbed her nose.

He grabbed it—conveniently it was the last one too—and handed it to her. "Here you go," He smiled at her before looking around. "Now, do you know where your parents are?"

The joy on the little girl's face faltered and he realized that she didn't actually know where her parents were. "Um…actually—"

"Aki, I told you to stay—" Kakashi suddenly turned the corner and saw a man and his daughter standing in front of each other. "Asuma?" He called out the man's name. Well, this sure was a surprise.

"Kakashi?"

"Papa!"

" _Papa?_ "

Aki slightly flinched when she saw the glare her father gave her before he looked back at his longtime friend. She quietly walked over to him, trying discreetly to put the box of treats in the basket.

A few awkward seconds passed before the Sarutobi broke it. "So I see you have a kid," The Sarutobi said, still not believing what he was seeing with his very own eyes. "If you don't mind me asking, since...um, when?" He asked. Because up until a few weeks ago, Kakashi was _single_ and had no kid living with him.

He would know, they were on a mission together.

"Since four years ago," Kakashi answered, only to be interrupted.

"I'm five," Aki grumbled.

"Oops, five years ago," He corrected before placing his hand on top of her head. "But I found out about her existence only about two weeks ago."

"…Oh," Asuma looked at Aki's face before turning back to Kakashi. "Is she okay? She doesn't look so well."

"We just came back from the hospital," His silver-haired friend sighed. "She has the flu apparently."

"You should get her home then." Asuma kneeled down. "It was nice meeting you Aki-chan."

"Thank you mister for getting me the box." He smiled at her, said his goodbyes, and left, his mind still reeling from the fact that _Kakashi_ , out of _all_ people, would be a dad before _any_ of them.

…He couldn't wait to tell Kurenai though.

As he walked away, Kakashi turned towards his daughter. "I should probably be getting mad at you right now."

She yawned before grabbing his pants. "I dunno." She pointed to the treats. "I wanted to get Pakkun and his friends some snacks."

He blinked and thought about this for a second before sighing. Well that was cute. "I can't get mad at you for that then," He had finished getting what he needed so as skillfully as he could, he picked Aki up and let her rest in his arms. "Let's go, we need to get home."

* * *

 _A few hours later…_

 _ **8 P.M.**_

* * *

Kakashi looked up from his book—which wasn't an Icha Icha book—and saw that Aki had fallen asleep against him while holding onto her Kappa. He turned off the television and the thought of waking her up crossed his mind, but he decided against this. She already had a long day, she didn't need to be woken up.

Besides, he made sure that she had already brushed her teeth before they relaxed in the living room.

He quietly put his book down on the coffee table and as gently as he could, he picked her up, hoping that she wouldn't wake up. She didn't, which made him happy at that fact.

He opened the door to his room and decided to lay her down on his bed. She just mumbled a few words he didn't understand as he pulled the blankets up to cover her. He placed his hand on the side of her face and sighed.

His daughter.

Kakashi never thought of having a family, yet alone a child. He figured that with all the shit that has happened in his life, he didn't _deserve_ a family. Then out of the blue, a little girl shows up claiming to be his long-lost daughter and now he's raising her.

He realized he had a kid, hell, he _had_ too. But did his mind fully process this? No, it really didn't, not until this morning. Seeing her, seeing _Aki,_ puking and coughing and having a fever woke something up within him, something weird. He was terrified of this feeling because he had an idea of what it was.

Kakashi pulled away from his thoughts and looked at Aki one last time before leaving the room.

He walked back to the couch and proceeded to sit down in it. He picked up his book and tried to read, but something was preventing him from concentrating on the words. Running his hand through his hair, he decided that he wanted to talk to somebody.

It was rare but this happened to him every once in a while.

Biting his finger, Kakashi summoned his closest partner. "Yo, Kakashi."

"Pakkun." He scratched the pug behind the ears.

"What's wrong?" Pakkun sat himself in Kakashi's lap, his tail thumping against his summoner's leg.

"Nothing."

The pug took a tentative sniff in the air before a sound of surprise left his mouth. "You smell…different."

"Different? How?"

Pakkun hesitated but after seeing the utter confusion on Kakashi's face, he knew he had to tell him. "You smell like your father."

The summon saw the flash of pain in his eyes before Kakashi concealed it. "My…dad? What do you mean?"

"It's the smell that most parents have," He rested his head on his paws. "That parental instinct every single parent talks about? It has a smell. But with canine summoners, they _feel_ that instinct much more than the average person because of the bonding capabilities that they have."

"But I didn't have it last time I summoned you a few days ago," Kakashi rested his head against the top of the couch and stared at the ceiling. It must have been today, that rush of adrenaline that he felt as he ran through the city towards the hospital. He knew that something was off with that rush, that it didn't really belong in the scenario that they had been in, but he didn't think much of it.

"Usually, parents get that feeling a few days after a baby is born," Pakkun continued. "But obviously, you're a special case. Basically, your parental instinct button was pressed in these past few days."

Now Kakashi knew that weird feeling he had been curious about. If what Pakkun said was true—which it probably was, knowing the little guy—then today's events were the reason.

He didn't know what to make of this but he wasn't worried. No, he felt somewhat happy about it.

"Thanks, Pakkun," He rubbed the dog's ears.

"No problem," His best friend looked up at him. "You summon me whenever you need me, okay?"

"I know."

"Good." Kakashi just smiled. It was good to know that there were few in the world he could trust with anything.

"Now, tell me about what happened with Aki-chan," Pakkun asked. Kakashi got comfortable and did exactly as the dog asked.

An hour later, the two were deeply asleep on the couch.

* * *

 **A/N:** _AYEEEEE! Sorry this took so long. I have like, no excuses tbh. It was more like a semi writer's block with a mixture of school projects that prevented me from fully getting into this story._

 _SO THIS STORY IS GETTING A LOT MORE ATTENTION THAN I THOUGHT IT WOULD EVER GET LIKE OHMAGOD THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCHHHHHH._

 _So I've decided to answer to reviews to get closer to my followers because let's face it, you're the reason why I even bother posting to this site xD So thank you!_

 _So until next time, don't forget to review/follow/fav!_

 _PLEASE REVIEWWWWWW_

* * *

 _lizy2000:_ No, thank you for reviewing! And I feel the same, I'm so happy that Aki was able to burrow her way into Kakashi's heart xD

 _Kiitsu:_ Thank you for your review and it makes me glad to know that you understand too xD Thank you for loving this story so far and I hope you don't leave!

 _fluffpenguin:_ Thanks! As regards to your review, it is a personal experience and by reading up on it. Although it is normal for many cultures up to a certain age, my father (who happens to be American) did not want to take a bath with me after I turned three. I was taking this as a reference and by asking my father about it (and my mother). And I wasn't implying that Kakashi didn't know how to cook. Simply, he was a bachelor for the longest time so he wasn't used to cooking, which is why he bought so many prepacked foods. The story line is _very_ close to Naruto Shippuden, so be prepared!

 _Ochiphius_ : THANK YOU SO MUCH LET ME HUG YOU. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

 _Sweet-Strawberry-09:_ Thank you for your review! This follows the canon timeline as Naruto Shippuden, so Naruto is currently with Jiraiya and Sasuke with Orochimaru :D I hope you continue reading!

 _belladu57_ : Thank you!


	6. Lifestyle - Chapter Six

**Summary:** _Because fatherhood's a journey, especially for an emotionally stunted man like him._

* * *

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS AND PLOTS. I ONLY OWN MY OC AKI AND ANY OTHER.

* * *

 **The past remains the past. We can learn from it but we cannot change it.**

George R.R. Martin, _A Dance with Dragons_

* * *

 **Lifestyle**

Kakashi absentmindedly stirred the pot full of miso soup, his thoughts taking up most of his attention. Naruto was to return to Konoha with Jiraiya any day now, according to the intel Tsunade received. He sighed and continued staring at nothing through the window. Don't get him wrong, he cared deeply for the boy. It was just that seeing Naruto only reminded Kakashi of all the failures and hardships of his own life.

He failed to keep his father from killing himself. This was his first failure and the start of several others.

He then failed to protect Obito.

Soon after, he failed to keep his promise to Obito to protect Rin. He ended up _killing_ her.

A few years later, he failed to save Minato-Sensei and Kushina-san.

His most recent failure? It was preventing Sasuke's betrayal.

It seemed that everyone that he found himself starting to love in his life ended up dying or leaving soon after.

"Papa, what's wrong?" Looking down at the hand that tugged at the hem of his shirt, the corner of his mouth slightly rose. _Well, not everyone_ , he thought.

"Nothing Aki. Go set the table." Pulling himself out of his treacherous thoughts, he turned off the stove and stared pouring the soup into bowls.

After they ate breakfast, Kakashi and Aki were lounging around in the living room, the little girl watching television while Kakashi read whatever book he had on hand. He was getting pretty into the book when Aki suddenly groaned.

"Papa, I'm bored!" She complained.

"Continue watching whatever you were watching on T.V."

She rolled her eyes―wait, wasn't she a little too young to be rolling her eyes? He thought only teenagers did that. "But I'm _bored!_ " She groaned out.

Kakashi sighed. "Well what do you want me to do about it?" He asked, now fully distracted and not able to concentrate on his poor poor book.

"I dunno. Something?"

He internally sighed and let his head fall against the top of the couch. He _could_ summon the Pack for Aki to do whatever they do together…but then again, he did that yesterday.

And the day before that.

 _And the day before that._

"Can we go to a park?" Aki asked.

Kakashi peeked at her, his eyebrow raised. "You sure? Last time it didn't end so well for the both of us, remember?" The end result of that day was her being upset at him…yeah, he didn't remember it being a good day at all―quite the opposite in fact.

"I know…but I'll be good this time!" She clapped her hands together and slightly bowed her head. He could tell that she was starting to go stir crazy. While he was fine being holed up in his house, she was a four-year-old―no wait, she was five, _goddamn it he seriously needed to start remembering how old she was_ ―who had been in here every single day for the past week. " _Please?_ "

"I don't know…"

" _But I'm bored!_ "

Well, it's not like he had anything else planned. He just sighed and put his book down on the coffee table. "Fine." He hoped he wouldn't come to regret this decision.

But knowing him, he probably will because _something_ was bound to happen.

"Yay!" Aki shot up from her spot―Kakashi was getting a sense of déjà vu all over again―but before she ran towards the door, she turned back towards him. "Can we invite Sakura-neesan?"

"Sakura-chan?" Kakashi rubbed his chin. "She might be at the hospital working, though."

"…Oh." The sudden change in Aki's face made Kakashi feel like he just kicked a lost puppy―and that was something he had accidentally done before too.

"W-Well, we can still try?" He suggested.

"Okay!" The sudden change in her face made him think that she had planned that but before he could say something about it, she grabbed his hand and rushed them out the door.

* * *

 _One hour later…_

 _ **12 P.M.**_

* * *

Aki, still slightly disappointed that her papa's friend couldn't play with her, was following a kanabun when she happened to stumble upon a group of children around her age. At first glance, they seemed like the average posse of little kids but when she started listening in to the conversation that was coming from within the group, she knew something was different, that something was _wrong_.

"Where's my homework Masahiro?"

"I-I don't have it―"

"Why not?" The one Aki immediately deemed the leader walked up the smaller boy and sneered. "It's due tomorrow!"

"I'm s-sorry…"

"Well, sorry ain't gonna cut it when I need it!" The leader pushed the black-haired boy hard, causing him to fall onto the ground.

"Hey!" Aki suddenly shouted out from her position behind the tree. She ran to the boy that had just been pushed down and looked at him with worry. He looked back with a look of shock and whether it was because of her sudden intrusion or being pushed, she didn't know―or care. "Are you okay?" She asked, ignoring the stares from behind her. He nodded his head in response but she could smell the fear and pain that was coming off of him in waves. Turning around, she glared at the other boy who pushed him. "Leave him alone!"

"Who even _are_ you?" She could hear the snickers from the surrounding children and felt her resolve slightly fall.

Slightly.

"I'm Aki―"

"I really don't care." The bully yawned. "Why are you telling me to stop anyways? I'll do whatever I want to do."

"So?" Aki countered with an attitude that matched the bully in front of her. "You should stop because that's the right thing to do, stupid!" She shouted out as she stood up and pointed at him. Granted, that probably wasn't the smartest thing to say to an older child obviously bigger and stronger than her, but she really did not care.

And besides, she never did call herself smart.

"Stupid? _Stupid?_ " Aki saw the change in the bully's face before seeing the fist that came flying towards her. "I am _not_ _stupid, you hear me?!_ " The force behind the punch caused her to fall backward and onto the boy from earlier. Although Masahiro tried catching her the best he could, she still fell pretty hard against the dirt, scratching her leg.

The only thing that registered in Aki's mind was the pain. She had never felt anything like this before in her life―the hot searing pain accompanied by a slight trickle of blood that was coming from her nose. She felt the heat and pressure of tears from behind her eyes and while a few of them escaped, she didn't let it stop her from standing up for the boy underneath her and now, herself. "What was that for? I didn't do anything!" Her voice came out much more nasally because of the pain and swelling from her nose, making her sound weaker than what she wanted too. Her tears probably didn't help either.

"What are you going to do about it?" The bully sneered, towering over her. There was a sadistic grin on his face as he cracked his knuckles against the palm of his hand. "You want me to hit you again? Make you cry even _more?_ "

She made a move to get up but the boy she was defending held her back and brought his hands out as a gesture of peace. "L-Let's talk a-about this―" Immediately the bully pushed him back down, marking him as insufficient. He hit his head on the ground with a sound she didn't like while he groaned at the pain. Aki, seeing this, did the first thing that came to mind.

She tackled the bully.

"Leave him alone!" He fell backward with surprise and onto the ground. His friends, just like him, was not expecting her to do what she did. They all slightly backed away, their eyes wide as saucers at what they were witnessing.

Despite the flaring pain in her nose, Aki copied what the bully had done not even a minute ago. She raised her arm, ready to punch him with as much strength as a five-year-old girl could have, but when she tried bringing her arm down another hand stopped her. At first she though one of his "friends" had stepped in and grabbed her but when she whirled around, the words that were on the tip of her tongue disappeared. All she felt was dread as she realized who had just stopped her.

"S-Shinobi-san!" The boy underneath her stuttered, his eyes widening with slight fear.

Aki looked at her father as he continued to hold her fist with his hand, a look on his face she couldn't comprehend. "P-Papa?"

Kakashi quickly let go of his daughter's fist and watched as they got up. "Beat it, kid." He said, his eyes never moving away from Aki.

"H-Hai!" He rushed away with his friends, leaving Kakashi with the other two kids.

"Five minutes Aki, _five minutes_ I look away." He pinched his nose in slight frustration. "And this is what you do." He knew it, this park was trouble. _Every. Single. Time._ Sighing deeply, he opened his eyes and stared down at the two kids: the one on the left his own child and the other obviously one from the Orphanage. He could tell from the telltale signs of the hand-me-down clothes and the look that all orphans had in their eyes.

"S-Shinobi-san, this was a-all my f-fault!" The orphan boy quickly bowed at him. "She j-just stood u-up for me…and…"

"Kid, I'm not mad."

"I'm r-really s-sorry―wait, y-you're not?"

A chuckle left his mouth before he could keep it in. "No, not really. But next time, stand up for yourself okay? Don't drag other people into your business."

"…O-Okay."

"Good. Now go home." Masahiro looked like he wanted to say something but decided against it. He ran off but not before bowing one last time towards the two Hatake's.

Kakashi kneeled down to look at his daughter. "Aki―" But before he could say anything, the tears that were falling freely from her eyes stopped him.

"My nose hurts!" She cried out, her hands flying to her bloody nose.

"I can see that. You're bleeding." He gently coaxed her hands away from her nose and lifted her chin to get a better look at it. Yup, that one was going to hurt like hell. He wasn't sure if she had a broken nose or not but judging by his fair share of experiences with them, he was pretty sure that she didn't. Still, for her sake, he hoped that it wasn't broken.

"It _hurts!_ Do something!" Aki was sniffling and crying, her voice revealing how much pain she was in―as if the crying wasn't representing that already.

"Alright alright, I'll take you to the hospital." As if he wasn't going to in the first place. Kakashi picked her up and started walking towards the hospital. As they left the park, he could feel the concerned and disapproving looks that he was getting from the mothers that had brought their own children with them.

They probably didn't like the fact that Aki had gotten into a fight. For what reasons he could care less because, in fact, he was _proud_ of her for doing something good.

"Are you mad at me?" Aki asked a few minutes later.

Kakashi looked at her curiously. "Mad? Why would I be mad?"

"W-Well, I got into a fight." She looked down, ashamed of herself for doing that. He gave her an understanding smile before snorting.

"And?" Kakashi did the total opposite of what she thought he would do. "I fight for a living, Aki, so if I got mad at you that would be very hypocritical of me, wouldn't it?"

"I g-guess…"

"I don't care that you got into a fight, Aki. You stood up for yourself and that boy earlier, I'm actually quite proud of you. You didn't stay behind and hide, becoming a bystander. You did what you thought was _right_ and I'll say right now that that makes me proud of you." Kakashi then gave her a hard look before continuing. " _But_ _if_ you start a fight, you better have one hell of a reason to start it because if not, let's just say I'll be beyond mad―I'll be disappointed in you."

"So you won't be mad about today?" She asked in a quiet voice.

"No." He smiled. "In fact, I'll take you out to go get ice cream once you get your nose fixed." It was hot too so, it was a win-win for them both. "Just remember Aki, standing up for those you care for…it's the most important thing _you_ can do, okay?"

She just nodded her head, understand the weight behind his words despite her age. "Okay, Papa. I promise." She let her head fall back against the crook neck and continued to let her father carry her. He patted her back, hoping that he had taught his daughter something important today.

He also needed to show her how to hold a fist because good lord, she was about to break her thumb the way she was holding it.

* * *

 _The next day…_

* * *

"You want to go back to that park _again?_ " Kakashi was beyond shocked. Why? How? _Why?_

"Yup!"

"I don't think that's the greatest of ideas Aki."

"But I want to go back." Aki smiled. "I want to see Masahiro again."

Kakashi conflicted. Would parents even let their kid go back to the place they just got beat up at again? "I don't know…" He wanted to say no but the look his daughter was giving him…

Well…

"… _Fine_."

Aki's only response was to smile.

After seeing her papa pull out a book, Aki started to walk around, looking for Masahiro. The chances of him even being here were pretty slim―

"Aki-san?" She whirled around and standing right in front of her was Masahiro.

Huh, he really was here after all.

"Masahiro-kun!" She smiled before grabbing him and pulling him to one of the benches. "Are you okay?" She eyed the ring of purple circling the boy's eye.

"Y-Yeah…" He said shyly. "Ryouta a-and his f-friends live at t-the orphanage l-like I do, so t-they…yeah."

"Oh."

"…I'm s-so sorry about y-yesterday." He apologized.

Aki pointed to her taped nose. "For this? Nah, it's okay. I just did what I thought was the right thing to do. At least it wasn't broken, right?" She tried to joke but she saw Masahiro look even more guiltier.

She needed to change the subject.

"If you live at the Orphanage, why didn't I see you before when I was staying there?"

"You l-lived at the O-Orphanage?" She nodded her head, agreeing to his question. "O-Oh. Were you a-adopted b-by that S-Shinobi?"

Her response was to snort. "Nah, he's really my papa. They ran a bunch of tests and then poof, there he was."

"L-Lucky…" The sudden scent of loneliness and grief suddenly assaulted her nose. She was now curious, where were his parents?

She decided to ask. "What happened to your parents?" Back in her old town, there weren't many orphans and if there were, the people treated them well.

"T-They were k-killed a y-year ago in the i-invasion." His voice was so small she almost didn't hear what he said.

The invasion?

"Oh…I'm sorry." She wanted to ask about it since she had never heard of it but…she wasn't sure if she should ask or not, especially when it involved both of his parent's deaths.

"Y-You… _do_ know a-about w-what happened, r-right?" He suddenly asked a few seconds later, disrupting her out of her own thoughts.

"…No?" Her answer came out more of a question that a statement. She hoped he wouldn't get mad because he was the only friend she had been able to make since coming here to Konoha.

Masahiro furrowed his eyebrows, scrunched in thought when he realized why she might not have been. "Wait, a-are you n-not from K-Konoha?" His brown eyes lit up with curiosity as he asked.

She shook her head. "Nope! I just moved here."

"Oh…I g-guess you w-wouldn't know then." Masahiro tightened his hold on the book he had in his arms. "W-Well, the K-Konoha C-Crush was when S-Suna attacked us d-during the Chūnin Exams." He looked down as his mind replayed his last memories of his parents. "I w-was at my h-house when it h-happened."

"I…" Aki was at loss for words. She knew what it was like to lose someone close but even then…

"D-Do you go to t-the A-Academy?"

Her head tilted, now curious―and happy for the subject change―before shaking her head. "The Academy? What's that?"

The awkward boy started scratching his head, a smile now on his face. "I-It's where w-we go to b-become a S-Shinobi. I j-just joined since I-I'm five but―"

Aki suddenly grabbed his shoulders and made him face her. "Y-You're _five?!_ " Poor Masahiro, his face was all red at the sudden intrusion of personal space. "Me too! Let's be friends!" His eyes widened even more.

"Aki, let go of the poor boy." A voice suddenly interrupted. "He looks about ready to pass out."

"Papa!" She whirled around and smiled.

Kakashi returned her smile before looking behind her. Brown hair and the same raggedy clothes? Yup, it was the boy from yesterday. "Hi there."

"H-Hello. I-I'm H-Hibashi Masahiro." He introduced himself to him.

"Well Aki, we need to go back home. You ready?"

She looked back at Masahiro and looked slightly conflicted. She wanted to stay but…if Papa said they had to go… "I'm sorry, can I see you tomorrow?"

"H-Huh?" Masahiro looked like a deer caught in headlights. "Y-You want to s-see me again?"

"Yeah! Why wouldn't I?" Aki looked at Kakashi before turning back around. "We're friends…right?"

The boy vigorously nodded his head. "Y-Yeah!"

"Alright then, bye Masahiro! I'll see you tomorrow!" She waved goodbye and followed after Kakashi, who was already walking away.

Masahiro waved back, a smile on his face that rivaled her own.

* * *

 _Later that night..._

 ** _7 P.M._**

* * *

"Papa, what's the Academy?" Kakashi froze at her sudden question. Where did she learn about it? Was it that boy?

Damn it, he should've been paying attention after all.

"Well, it's where people go to learn how to become Shinobi." He answered, unfreezing his body and continuing what he was doing. His daughter stayed suspiciously silent, slightly worrying him. She wouldn't ask―

"Can I join the Academy?"

 _And there was the question_. Kakashi put down the knife he was using and placed both of his hands on the countertop. This was one thing he didn't want; _this_ was just something he had begged not to happen. Memories of his own time at the Academy flashed through his mind before he shook his head to get rid of the thoughts. "Why? His voice sounded strained, even to his own ears.

"Well…both you and Grandpa are Shinobi." She tapped her fingers against the table. "I want to protect you too!" Kakashi's heart slightly warmed at the thought of her wanting to protect him―not that he would need it―but the want for her to not get tangled into the Shinobi lifestyle was stronger and it didn't let him waiver from his earlier decision.

"No." He blatantly said.

Aki's eyes widened at his answer, apparently not expecting that. "N-No?"

"I don't want you to do what I do. It's not an easy life and I don't want you getting hurt."

"But I want too! I'm bored staying here in this house and I want to make friends! I want to protect you!" Her reasons were childish, _naïve_ even. These weren't reasons for those who wanted to be Shinobi.

Like he said earlier, it wasn't an easy decision and sure as hell not an easy life.

"Aki, if you want to do that go to the civilian school down the road―" He tried to reason but surprisingly out of character, his daughter stomped her foot on the ground in what he realized was a sign of child tantrum―well, according to that parenting book he read a few days ago.

"No! I want to be a shinobi, I want to honor Grandpa and someday, you!"

"Aki―"

"I want to join and if you're not going to help, then I'll just get the big-chested lady to sign me up." She crossed her arms in defiance. "She's the Hokage so she'll help me."

"It's not that simple."

"I don't care."

"You need to think about this Aki. It's not all fun and games being a Shinobi, I hope you know that. You'll have to kill people one day."

"But…"

Kakashi whirled around. "You are not going to be enrolled into the Academy, okay?" His voice came out hard and he saw Aki's bottom lip tremble, which meant that tears were soon to follow.

"Fine." Aki whirled around and ran to the couch, sitting on it with her back now facing him.

Kakashi didn't mean to make her cry and now he felt guilty because he knew that Aki meant well with her reasons, but she wouldn't understand _his_ reasons for not letting her. He wanted her to have a normal childhood, a childhood he never had. He wanted her to be innocent like those children he saw playing―although some of them were gross and…well, _stupid_ ―but it didn't matter. Aki had the chance to be _normal_. Yes, he was born in a war-torn era and times were now different but still…he cared for Aki deeply so he was worried about her.

He looked outside, the rain tapping against his window.

But in the end, Kakashi knew that no matter what he did to prevent it, the shinobi life would find her.

* * *

 **A/N:** _I AM SO SO SO SO SORRY THAT THIS CAME OUT SO LATE I DIDN'T MEAN FOR IT TO OH MA GODDDDDD_

 _Please forgive me. At first it was the stress of exams so that meant no writing for me but then I just_ _had_ _to fall in love with Sebastian Stan so I wrote a quick story for him (go check it out PLEASE it's called "_ _ **Memoirs of a Forgotten Soldier**_ _") but then exams really did happen so that meant no writing anything for a week. Then school was out for the summer so I should have started writing something then but I had a major writers block._

 _IM SO SORRY._

 _I HOPE THIS CHAPTER WAS GOOD I TRIED REALLY HARD ON IT._

 _I know this is kinda a filler chapter and it was kinda boring but idk, I didn't have any ideas because I had this great one but it needed a back story and…yeah. SORRY._

 _I SWEAR THE NEXT CHAPTER WON'T TAKE THAT LONG. I PROMISE._

 _But other than that, THANK YOU GUSY SO MUCH FOR THE FOLLOWS LIKE OH MA GODDDD I LOVE YOU GUYSSSS xD_

 _Please follow/fav if you haven't already! ALSO, DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_

 _Until next time!~_


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